


The Bet

by inabodycastofglass



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Slow Burn, bet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-25
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-08-24 14:08:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8375047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inabodycastofglass/pseuds/inabodycastofglass
Summary: “I bet I can make you fall in love with me.”“You’re delusional.”On indefinite hiatus.





	1. Tantrum

It was on a Tuesday that Lance looked Keith in the eyes and said, in all seriousness, “I bet I can make you fall in love with me.” Keith remembered because they were walking back to the dorms after their advanced anatomy class, which met on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and they didn’t have homework, which meant it was Tuesday.

It always seemed like Tuesdays were the days that Lance said the dumbest things. When they were in high school, right after Lance turned eighteen, he decided to buy a pack of cigarettes, because he could. One of the teachers caught him with them when he was grabbing a notebook from his bag and called his mother for “contraband items”. She hadn’t let him leave the house for a month aside from school and work. She’d even had his little sister drive him around to make sure he wasn’t sneaking around. She’d loved the power over him.

The summer before they started college, Lance decided he needed some extra money. So, on the first Tuesday of June, he’d applied to be a dancer at a club. It took him until the first day of work to realise he’d been hired as a stripper. That was also on a Tuesday.

A month into their first semester, he decided to throw a dorm party to lose his virginity. He wound up stumbling drunk with a warning and a threat to lose his housing if he was ever caught with alcohol again. He did not lose his virginity that Tuesday.

Hunk called it “Tuesday Syndrome”.

The day didn’t matter; but Keith couldn’t help but take note of it, because of course it was a Tuesday.

It had been in response to normal teasing, the same exchange they’d been having for the past four years. Lance had been bragging about how Gina had been staring at him for the last three classes, and how he was going to “tap that”, and it had led to Keith telling him he couldn’t sleep with any girl as long as he kept up his dumb flirting tactics. They’d been through the exchange hundreds of times. It was routine for them.

He’d apparently missed that this was one of Lance’s sensitive days. He wished that Hunk was there to warn him, and to run interference, because Keith’s immediate response was, “you’re delusional,” and even he knew that was the wrong thing to say. If he’d said something else, maybe he could have derailed Lance and ended whatever this was. Instead he’d riled him up even more.

“What? Is something wrong with me?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Sure it was. You think I’m some hopeless loser who will be alone forever.”

“Lance, you’re being irrational.”

“Oh, now I’m delusional and irrational?”

“What? Lance, calm down.”

“You know what, no. I’m not going to calm down. I’m going to prove you wrong.” He stuck his finger in Keith’s face, making his own anger flare up. “I’m going to make you fall in love with me. And, when I do, you’re going to drop out of Shiro’s apprentice programme next year.”

“Oh my god, you’re crazy.”

“Yeah, well, you’re going to be head over heels for this crazy loser in a few weeks!" Lance turned on his heels, his coat flaring up, making his exit as dramatic as his tantrum.

Keith watched him go, his eyebrows furrowed, wrinkled in the centre. A part of him was still questioning what had just happened.

Lance’s mind was a landscape that only a professional could fully comprehend. But Keith knew him well enough to know that he would go through with this for no other reason than because he'd said he would.

And Keith did not want to deal with this kind of drama.


	2. You're On

Keith had forgotten about Lance’s deranged challenge by the next morning, so he spent the entire day without much care.

It was when he and Pidge were walking to the Hole for study snacks around six that Lance slipped an arm around his waist, making his body go stiff.

“Ready for our date?”

Keith turned his head toward Lance slowly. “What are you talking about? And why are you touching me?”

Lance’s grip tightened, and he leant closer to Keith. “I told you, I’m going to make you fall in love with me, remember?”

Keith did not like being touched. Even holding his foster parents hands as a child had bothered him. He wanted to knock Lance to the floor and tell him to never, ever touch him so casually again.

“I never agreed to this.”

“What are you, scared?” He got real close to Keith’s face, so their noses were almost touching. If Lance tried to kiss him, he’d get knocked on his ass.

He thought Lance was manipulating him, pulling at his strings. But it was more likely that he was just being a lunkhead and playing into their usual game of insults. There was no way Lance knew that it was the cocky way he jut his hip out that always made Keith’s blood boil.

“And what do I get if I win?”

“I cook dinner for you for a week.”

“Two months.”

“A month.”

“Two months.”

“Six weeks.”

Keith crossed his arms. “Three months.”

Lance pursed his lips at Keith. “Fine.”

“Then fine. You’ve got yourself a deal.”

“Awesome.” It was almost like a different, happy Lance took over his body then with how quickly his mood shifted. “So what’s on the schedule for tonight?”

“Well, we were going to study.” Pidge pushed up her glasses, side eyeing Lance. “But I really don’t feel like watching you climb all over Keith, trying to make him kiss you.”

Keith wrinkled his nose. “Absolutely not.”

“Aw, but babe.” Lance nuzzled his nose into Keith’s neck, making his hair stand on edge.

He shoved Lance away with a hand on his face. “Absolutely not.”

Lance laughed. “All right, then. Let’s study.”


	3. Studying

Lance apparently didn’t realise that studying for Keith and Pidge meant fifteen minutes of books, then four hours of ranting about a TV show while it played in the background.

He spent two hours reading Keith’s comics before growing bored by both them and the very loud “conversation” the two of them were having. He sighed very loudly three times before Keith and Pidge stopped pretending not to hear him. “Is this all you two ever do?”

“What else should we do?” Pidge paused the TV, making Keith smile, since neither of them were paying the least bit of attention to it, and it was just to tick Lance off.

“How about go out? Interact with real people?”

Keith raised a brow at him.

“Park? Arcade? Movies?”

“The movies might be fun.” Pidge spun her notebook around with one finger. “L’alba del Vampiro’s been out for a few weeks now.”

“Wait, you guys wanna watch an artsy foreign film? Tell me it’s not in black and white.”

Keith was almost hoping this would drive him away. “The blood’s supposed to be in an assortment of colours.”

“Oh my god.” Lance pushed his palms into his eyes and fell back on Keith’s bed. “You guys aren’t even the cool kind of nerds.”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Sorry for being so lame. We’ll just adopt interests that will keep you entertained.”

“That would be fantastic. Thank you.”

She chucked a pillow at him, hitting him in the face. “Just leave if you’re so bored.”

He held the pillow to his chest, sitting up. “Only if Keith promises to go on a date with me tomorrow.”

Keith clenched his jaw shut.

“Keith, either Lance leaves, or I do.”

They both stared at him, knowing he would give in. It was just a matter of how long he was determined to hold out.

Just over two minutes, as it turned out. He scoffed and threw his head back. “Fine. But there is absolutely no way I’m going to a house party or some skeevy bar that accepts fake ID’s.

Lance beamed, and he looked almost genuinely happy. “That’s fine. I wasn’t planning on either, anyway. I know how to treat someone on a first date. Well.” He stood up and stretched out. “Later, losers.”

Pidge raised her brows at Keith when Lance didn’t shut the door, making his eyebrow twitch. “Is this for real?”

“I’m still hoping I’m in a coma right now.” He stood up. “Pack up your stuff, I wanna see that movie.”

She snorted and shoved her stuff into her bag.


	4. How About No

Lance was objectively attractive. He was tall, with dark, clear skin, a casual, approachable posture, and really nice eyes. He even had the type of smile that made people weak in the knees when he wasn’t being a douche. If the bet was just to seduce Keith, then he’d have lost within a matter of days. But it was about real feelings, which meant it was about personality and chemistry. And Lance was downright infuriating when he was flirting with someone.

Keith never realised how much truer this was when he was the target of lances so-called flirting.

He stood in the lobby of Lance’s dorm, staring in absolute horror at his date attire. “I am not going anywhere with you dressed like that.”

He looked genuinely confused by this statement, which killed the small hope that Keith had that this was just a joke to mess with him. He looked down at himself. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I look cool.”

Keith pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. “You look like an Ax commercial.”

Heaven help him. Lance seemed to have no idea why that was a bad thing.

“All right, fine. I might as well use this time to teach you how to go on a date.” Keith pushed himself off the couch he was leaning on and walked over to Lance. “First of all, no snap backs.” He took the hat off him. “You know what, just burn everything that says ‘swag’ on it. Don’t sell it, don’t donate it, no one needs it. Second, you don’t need three jackets. It’s October, not January in Alaska. Last, pull up your pants. Seeing your underwear and walking like a penguin was barely considered attractive in 2007.”

Lance scoffed and glared at him. “You have a mullet and leather gloves.”

Keith crossed his arms. “I’m not trying to impress anyone.”

Lance pouting at him with his bottom lip stuck out was almost funny, but the fear that he would insist on dragging Keith around looking like he did kept him deadly serious. “Does it really look that bad?”

“Yes.”

“Well you’re a guy. A girl might still like it.”

“Attractive is attractive, Lane. Now please, for the love of god, please go change.”

Lance sulked back to his room and Keith fell back onto the couch, putting his face into his hands. He prayed to whatever god was listening that this was not going to be how this entire ordeal was going to go.

When Lance came back, Keith had a moment of apprehension before looking at him. He’d made a switch from “trying to hard” to “not trying at all”, and Keith wondered if there existed a happy middle to Lance’s extremes. Though, quite frankly, in a T-shirt and skinny jeans, not trying looked really good on him.

Lance held his arms out to the sides, waiting for Keith to judge him.

“Better.”

Lance dropped his arms, screwing up his expression as he stared at Keith. “Seriously? These are my normal clothes.”

“Yeah? And?”

He stared at Keith for another long moment. “Nothing, I guess.”

“Good. Now, let’s get this ‘date’ you have planned over with.”

Lance’s cocky smile came back at that, which Keith thought was a shame. If he would just act like a normal person, girls might put up with him for longer than thirty seconds. “By the time this date is over, you’ll be begging me for more.”

Keith rolled his eyes, his sense of regret coming back twofold. “I doubt that.”


	5. The Date #1

“Lance.”

“Yes?”

“We’re at the fair.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Uh, date? Remember?”

“To the town fair?”

“Hey, you’re the one who didn’t want to go clubbing.”

Keith pushed two fingers into his eye, sighing. “Because there are too many people shoving each other around.” He waited for Lance to understand the flaw in his plan.

“Oh, come on.” He hooked his arm with Keith’s. “Give it a shot. Carnivals are fun.”

He huffed, throwing his head back. “Fine.” The sooner they started, the sooner it would be over.

“Awesome. Let’s go.”

Lance pulled him away at an awkward, jumpy pace, and Keith tripped when they stopped in front of a game booth. “Wanna play?”

“What? No. These things are a complete waste of money.”

“Aw, what’s wrong? You scared you’ll lose?”

The only thing that kept Keith’s head in check was that he really couldn’t afford it. He’d brought ten dollars with him just in case, but he was a broke college student who had bills and a part time job. “I’m not playing an overly expensive carnival game just to kick your ass. I can do that anywhere.”

He slammed a five on the counter and the booth worker handed him five rings. He tossed the first one with a lazy flick of his wrist and a wink at a random girl, and it flew four inches to the left of the bottles.

“Hey, Prince Charming. You missed.”

“What?” He turned around, both hands on the counter. “But how?”

“Uh, you threw like a loser?”

Lance shot Keith a glare. “Fine. Time to get serious.”

He missed again. And again. All four rings bounced off the bottles and landed in between them.

“Are you done?”

Lance pulled another five out of his wallet and shoved it at the booth worker.

Five more rings. Five more misses.

“Great.” Keith crossed his arms, looking around, his shoulders drawn up and in. “Can we go now?”

“Not until I win.”

“You can’t be serious. Lance, these games are rigged.”

Apparently he was. He gave the booth worker a ten, and Keith was floored that Lance had just spent twenty dollars on a fair game. Keith didn’t think his family was particularly well off, so he had no idea what he was thinking with this.

After another four misses, he pulled out his phone to find a text from Pidge.

_ Having fun yet? _

He grunted and texted back.

_ I’m keeping track of how much Lance’s pride is worth. _

_ How much are you at? _

_ I think it just hit forty. _

_ Keep me posted on the results. I have some experiments I need to test, and I need a dummy. _

Keith chuckled and looked back at Lance, wondering if he would notice if he just left.

“Ha!” He turned to Keith, pointing at the bottles with a grin. “I did it. See?”

“Good job. Can we go now?”

“One sec.” The booth worker gave him a key chain, and he gave it to Keith. “Here you go.”

He was confused, but he still accepted it. “Um, why?”

“Because this is a date.”

“Is it now?” He picketed the trinket without really looking at it. “I thought you were just goofing around on your own.”

“Okay, yeah. I deserved that.” He put his arm around Keith’s shoulder. “So, let’s have fun. What do you want to do?”

He shrugged Lance off him. “I don’t know. Go home?”

Lance stuck his bottom lip out at Keith, furrowing his brows. “How about the Pendulum?”

“That sounds like a torture method.”

Lance grinned. “Scared?”

Keith’s face heated up. “You’re on, Party City.”

Lance rushed him off to the evil contraption, which, yeah, okay, was fun. He could admit that. So was the tilt-a-whirl. But the best part was when Lance vomited after the Gravitron.

“I have been in the car while you drove eighty down a mountain road. How are you sick from that?”

He held his fingers in the air, counting off. “Big dinner, several rides, and it’s different when I’m in control.”

Keith snorted. “Let’s get you some water.”

He helped Lance to a bench and went to fetch a bottle of four dollar tap water he was going to make Lance pay him back for. “Feel better?”

Lance chugged three quarters of it. With a gasp, he leant back, closing his eyes. “Give me a minute.”

Keith almost felt bad for finding this amusing. “Ready to go home?”

Lance groaned. “Let’s play one more game, then we can leave.”

Keith sighed. “Another game? Really?”

“It’s a tradition. My family plays it every year back home.” He pushed himself up with a grunt. “Let’s go.”

Keith followed him, his shoulders slumping. He was getting tired and frustrated, and it was getting harder to maintain civility. But at least it was only one more game.

He stared at the deformed clowns that Lance was supposed to knock down with a softball., goosebumps popping up on his arms.

“Prepare to be impressed. I rule at this game.”

He paused for a moment, staring at the ball in his hand. He held it out to Keith. “Wanna try?”

It was a nice gesture. “No thanks.”

Lance shrugged. He twisted the ball in his hand, staring intently at the clowns, his tongue peeking out the side of his mouth.

He swung his arm out wide to his side, and smacked Keith in the eye.

Stars flashed through both his eyes, and there was a flash of breathlessness. After a beat the pain caught up with him, and his hands went to his face. He swore.

Lance gaspt. “Keith! I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

He hissed through his teeth, his jaw clenched. “I’ll be waiting in the car.”

“I’ll take you.” Lance reached out to help him.

Keith slapped his hand away. “Just play your game.”

He stalked off, barely managing to not shove people out of his way.

Lance climbed into the driver’s seat a few minutes later. “I got you some cotton candy.” He held it out for Keith, wearing a small smile that could have been charming if Keith’s eye wasn’t blackening.

He took it with a sigh. “Just take me home.”

“Yeah, all right.” He sounded almost dejected as he started the car, but Keith couldn’t find it in himself to care. He was just glad this night was over. He wanted to go to bed.


	6. Request

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things I don't know but am pretending to:  
> 1\. How businesses work.  
> 2\. How much amateur models get paid.  
> 3\. What I'm doing.

Pidge snorted as soon as she saw Keith in the library the next day. “Your date went well, then?”

Keith sneered at her. “It’s that bad?”

“Can you even see through that?” She reached up to touch it.

He slapped her hand away. “Yes, I can.” He sighed, slouching back in his chair. “Lance hit me with a softball in his hand.”

Pidge laughed loudly. “So your date went really well, then?”

“To be fair, it was an accident.” He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “And he seemed sorry.”

“Well that’s something at least.”

It wasn’t long after that Allura came by, looking for them. “Good, you’re still here.” She sat down, smoothing out her skirt. “I have a favour to ask of you- Keith! Oh my gosh. What happened to your eye?”

“Lance punched him.”

“Lance what?” She stood up, leaning over the table to look at him. “What happened?”

Keith huffed. “It was an accident. He was playing some stupid fair game and he hit me.”

“You were at the fair with Lance?” She lowered her hand to the table, staring at him. The corner of her lip twitched.

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Actually, it kinda was.”

“Not helping.” Keith glared at Pidge, who just shrugged. “We have this stupid bet going on.”

“Oh?” Allura slowly sat back down. “What sort of bet?”

Keith scoffed. “Didn’t you have some sort of favour to ask or something?”

She pouted, but sat up straight, all business. “Right, yes. So, you know my father’s company is trying to strike a deal with Balmera designs.”

“No.”

She looked offended. “No?”

Keith crossed his arms. “Why would I know that?”

“Oh, right. Well, it is.” She cleared her throat, regaining her composure. “Anyway, we need to pitch some designs to get them to consider it. And I was hoping you two would consider doing me a favour and modeling them for me.”

She looked so confidant that they would say yes, smiling and bright and sure, like she was used to getting whatever she wanted.

“No.”

“No? But why not?”

‘Because no.”

“But- Keith.”

He started to pack up his stuff. “No means no.” His hands shook as he shoved his things into his bag.

“I’m going to pay you.”

He slowed, but didn’t stop. “No.”

“Keith, please. It’s one day. And you’ll be earning five-hundred dollars.”

His mouth felt dry. He looked up at her. “Five-hundred dollars? For one day?”

She was already looking relieved, though he hadn’t agreed to anything yet. “Yes. Plus, we’ll feed you, and you can even keep one of the outfits as a thank you.”

He squeezed the strap of his bag. He looked to Pidge, for no reason, then back to Allura. With five-hundred dollars, he could finally buy his bike. Then he wouldn’t have to take the bus everywhere. He could pick up more hours at work, because he wouldn’t have to leave so early. He could start saving up to get out of this town. He licked his lips. “I’ll think about it.”

She let out a breath, smiling. “Wonderful. Thank you. Pidge?”

She squirmed under Allura’s expectant face. “I don’t know, Princess. I don’t have a lot of free time.”

Allura raised a brow.

“I don’t. I’m taking three labs this semester.”

“Please, Pidge. One day. A Sunday.”

Pidge looked to Keith for help, but he only shrugged. “But why me? I’m not a modal. I’m short and stocky and have freckles and no chest.”

“You’re exactly what I’m looking for.”

They both looked at Allura, Keith’s mouth open.

“You-” He paused for a beat. “This is your project?”

She blushed. “Oh, well, yes. It is.” She gave them a shy smile that looked like it was trying to hold back her natural confidence. “My first big project, since I’ll be joining the company next year.”

She reached over and put her hand on Pidge’s, squeezing it. “So, please? This is so important to me.”

Pidge grimaced before dropping her head back. “Fine. You win. I’ll do it.”

“Thank you!” Allura was beaming. She jumped up and hugged Pidge, kissing her cheek. Then Keith. “Thank you both so much.” She straightened up, grabbing her purse. “Well, I’ll see you both on Sunday for your first fittings. I’ll text you later with the time and location.”

As soon as she was gone, Keith turned to Pidge. “I said I would think about it, right?”

“Well, now you’re doing it, I guess.”

He couldn’t be too annoyed. He knew he was already going to agree, anyway. Now he just didn’t have to force himself actually do so. “Whatever. I have to get going.”

“Where?”

He sneered, staring at the wall in front of him. “To re-evaluate my life.”

Pidge snorted. “Have fun.”

Keith left without bothering to even look at her.


	7. Date, Take Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of my skating knowledge comes from Rocket Power.

Lance hissed when he saw Keith’s eye. “Dude, are you okay?”

“It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt unless someone touches it.”

Lance winced, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Sorry.”

“Stop apologising. It’s not like you.”

He didn’t look convinced, but he nodded, and smiled. “So, are you ready to see a movie?”

“Oh no. We’re doing what I want today.”

Lance leant away from him, making a face. “Wait, what does that entail?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Calm down. We’re just going to a skate park.”

“Oh.” Lance gave a small nod. “Cool. I actually keep my board in my car.” He motioned over his shoulder. “Let me just go grab it.”

Keith watched him head off, thinking about how different Lance was acting than normal. If he acted like this, like a normal human, more often, then maybe he could get a real date.

But then he came back with a board and helmet covered in shark stickers, and Keith was reminded that he was a perpetual five-year-old, and that a little bit of guilt wouldn’t change that.

“Ready?”

Keith tossed his blades over his shoulder. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

Lance watched him for a moment, looking him up and down, before following. “Dude, where’s your helmet?”

“Don’t have one.”

“You don’t have a helmet?” He made it sound like Keith had insulted his mother’s wig or something.

“It’s fine.”

“It is not fine. What if you wipe out?”

“Then I’ll hit my head and die.”

“This isn’t funny, Keith. You could really get hurt.”

“Lance, will you calm down. I’ll be fine, okay? Trust me.”

He stared at Keith, his lips thin. “Fine, but I’m not taking you to the hospital if you get hurt.”

“That’s cool. I can’t afford it, anyway.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

Keith smirked, walking ahead of him.

* * *

He put his blades on when they got to the park, tossing his shoes lazily with his bag in the grass by the fence. “Ready to show me how you use that?”

Lance smirked. He dropped the board and smiled at a girl who wasn’t even looking at him. “Just watch and be amazed.”

He went to the pool, skating around the bottom for a moment before finding a good place and picking up speed. After his first jump, Keith was already preparing himself to admit that Lance was better than he’d expected. But on his third jump he tried pulling some fancy trick, one that Keith couldn’t place, and ate pavement when he over-tipped himself.

Keith jumped down, rushing to him to make sure he was okay.

Lance sat up when Keith dropped to his knees next to him. “Did anyone see that?”

“Just me, I think.”

“Oh, good.” He pushed himself to his feet and retrieved his board.

“You were right, Lance.”

“About what?”

Keith smirked. “That was amazing.”

Lance’s face went red. “You think you could do better?”

“I have been blading for more than a week.”

He went to the edge and dropped without any thought, flying down the pool. When he hit the top on the other side, he grabbed the coping, going vertical, curving his spine, bending his knees for balance. He closed his eyes and counted to five before coming back down, going up the other side, and hoping out.

Lance wrinkled his nose at Keith, glaring at him. “Was that the best you got?”

“Not even close.”

They fell back into the usual competition after that, going at it for a few hours until it started to get dark.

* * *

They were exchanging friendly insults while Keith changed back into his shoes, and Lance was making wide gestures to mock something Keith did, when some guy shoved past him, knocking him into Keith.

“Hey.”

“What?” The man, twice Lance’s weight, and four inches taller, turned to them, arms lifted at his sides like a bodybuilder.

Lance flinched. “Nothing.”

The oaf snuffed. “What I thought.”

Keith got to his feet. “Hey, jerkface.”

The oaf turned to him.

Lance grabbed his arm, trying to pull him back, but Keith shoved him away. “Yeah, you. You just shoved my friend.”

The man glowered down at him, his lip pulled back in a sneer. “Yeah? So?”

“So apologise.”

“Keith, it’s fine.” Lance tried to pull him back again.

“No, it’s not. Now apologise.”

“And if I don’t?”

Keith balled up his fists. “You will.”

He wasn’t sure who threw the first punch, he hadn’t really cared. But they were fighting, and Keith’s blood was pumping, his heartbeat racing as he ducked the oafs swing. Lance was yelling something, but he wasn’t paying attention.

He punched the oaf in the jaw and ducked his right hook, swinging again for the same place.

Then he got clocked hard in the ear, and hit the ground, scraping up his arm.

He tried to get up, but he stumbled, his ears ringing, his equilibrium shot. He didn’t see the oaf kick him, his vision blurry.

The wind was knocked from out. He curled up in a ball, gasping.

“Hey, stop! He’s down. You win.” Lance stood between the oaf and Keith, his arms out to his sides.

The oaf spit at Keith before storming off, muttering to himself.

Lance dropped down beside him. “Keith, buddy.” He looked at his head, brushing his hair back. “Jeez. Look at you. Are you okay?”

He took a deep breath, his chest sore. “I’ve had worse.”

Lance smiled at him, and it didn’t make Keith want to cringe. “Good. Then what were you thinking? Did you see that guy? Did you want to die?”

“I had it under control.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.” He sighed. “Come on, let’s get you home.” He helped Keith stand, catching him when he pitched forward. “Great. This date was worse than mine.”

“No. Mine was fun.”

“You got your ass kicked by a giant.”

Keith laughed. “Yeah. Fun.”

“¿Cuáles han me he metido?” He hoisted Keith up so he was practically carrying him. “It’s a good thing campus is only ten minutes away.”

Lance helped him to his dorm. “Are you going to be okay on your own?”

“Yeah, I’m just going to sleep.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” He let Keith down on his bed. “You could have a concussion.”

“No. I know what a concussion feels like.”

“Oh, that makes me feel better.”

Keith chuckled, pulling his shoes off.

“All right, then. If you’re sure, I’m going back to my room.”

“Kay.” Keith hung his jacket on a bedpost. “Thanks.”

Lance snorted. “Yeah, no problem. Just don’t expect me to carry your ass again, all right?”

“Right. Night, Lance.”

“Night, Keith.” He shut the light off on his way out.


	8. Tuesday Again

Keith put his head on the table before anatomy started that Tuesday. His head still hurt where he’d been clocked. He had a nice bruise that reached to the corner of his eye. His arm and stomach also hurt, but at least no one was pointing those out to him.

Worse was that he’d received a text from Allura earlier that day, saying he had less than two weeks before the stupid fashion shoot. He hoped his bruises would go away before then, because the clothes he was supposed to wear weren’t exactly modest, and Allura had lectured his good ear off about how much makeup it would take to fix him.

Keith had other, more important things to take care of before then.

He absolutely had no patience to deal with Lance, or his gushing over his latest crush, Nyma.

He sighed, his face in his hands. “She has the most beautiful neck.”

Keith groaned loudly and reached toward Lance blindly, slapping his face lightly a few times.

Lance grabbed his wrist, holding it down on the table. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for your off button.” He pulled his hand free and pushing himself to sit up, making his back crack. He leant his head over the back of the chair. “I don’t care about your crush today. Can you wait to gush to Hunk after class, please.”

“Aw, are you jealous? Am I finally seducing you?”

“If you were, talking about Nyma’s neck wouldn’t be helping.” He looked at Lance through half lidded eyes. “Do you talk about other girls while flirting with someone for real?”

Lance’s blush answered him.

“Dude.”

“What? I have an appreciation for the female form. That’s a good thing.”

“You have a problem.” He sat up. “People like when you make them feel special. If you flirt with everyone you encounter, or talk about Allura when you’re with Nyma, you’re going to come off as an insensitive playboy who only wants to sleep with her.”

“I don’t only want to sleep with them.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“I don’t.” Lance’s voice cracked. He turned to face Keith, his fist balled up on the table. “I may be a bit of a flirt, but I’m serious. I want a relationship with someone that I like, and I can have fun with, just like everyone else.”

Keith stared into Lance’s eyes, blinking at his sudden intensity. “You know, if you showed that level of sincerity with girls, they might respond better.”

Lance looked down, his ears red. “This is stupid.” He turned to face forward, scooting his chair into the table.

“Woah, hey.” Keith put a hand on his shoulder. “What’s going on? We were fine just a moment ago.”

Lance pulled away from him. “I said drop it, mullet.”

Keith’s chest felt hot. “What is with you? Why do you do that?”

“I don’t ‘do’ anything.”

“Yes, you do. Every time we’re getting along, you either get cocky or pissy and ruin it. Every time.”

“You’re imagining things.”

“No, I’m not. What is your problem, dude?”

Lance turned in his chair to Keith, his mouth open wide to yell, but he just sucked in a deep breath and froze. After a moment he closed it and glared at Keith. “Look, can you please just drop this? Please?”

Keith heaved a heavy, angry sigh. “Fine. But you, you know, if you want to win this bet, you have to actually act like you want me to like you. That means not being a moody jerk when we’re having an otherwise pleasant conversation.” He turned to face forward, putting his chin on the table and blocked his view of Lance in his peripheral with his arm.

He could barely pay attention in class because of Lance and his stupid attitude. He was just trying to help, Lance didn’t have to yell at him.

Something touched his pinkie, and Keith looked down to see his name on a folded Piece of paper.

He ignored it.

Lance picked it up and put it on the back of Keith’s hand.

He flicked it off.

Lance huffed and reached over his arm to put the paper on his text book.

Apparently he wasn’t going to give up. With a huff of his own he opened the note.

Lance’s handwriting was easy to read, all neat and bubbly. It looked like he practiced hard on it. Comparatively, Keith’s was illegible, scrunched up and sharp with almost no spacing.

_I’m sorry. I didn’t want to talk about my girl problems. I just don’t like admitting that there are things I can’t do._

He responded and passed it back.

_Well maybe try not to bite my head off next time._

_I know. That’s why I’m saying sorry. I’ve got problems, okay?_

Keith wanted to be sarcastic back, but he knew that would only make things worse, and he did have some self-control. He sighed quietly and gripped his pen tight.

_Fine._

_Thanks. Do you want to go on a date tomorrow since there are no classes?_

Keith went over his schedule. He didn’t think he had work.

_Only if we’re not going to the fair again._

_Promise._

Keith still wanted to say no, not trusting Lance’s judgement. But he glaced at him through the corner of his eye and saw him with that soft smile he always wore when he thought no one was looking.

And he wondered again why Lance wasn’t this way all the time. Why force himself to be annoying?

He closed his eyes, breathing evenly, and smiled into the palm of his hand.


	9. Third Time's the Charm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is still technically on hiatus. But I'm having a bit of an emotional crisis right now, so I'm posting the next chapter.

Keith was no stranger to getting up early. He frequently went on morning runs before work or class, or just whenever he couldn't sleep.

However, he'd never seen Lance willingly get up before nine. Yet there he was, outside of Keith's dorm building at five in the morning. He looked exhausted and freezing, and Keith rubbed his nose to hide his smile.

"Are you ready?"

Lance jumped at his voice. "What? Oh, yeah."

He led Keith to his car, his arms crossed and shoulders pulled up.

The ride to the hiking site was long and quiet. Keith was glad they'd left so early, both because they didn't get there for two hours, so they just managed to beat the crowd, and because Lance was too tired to talk, so they just listened to music for the entire drive.

Lance stared at him while they walked to the path, boring into his side until Keith huffed, spinning on the balls of his feet. "What?"

Lance stopped about a foot away from him. "Where's your water?"

Keith pulled a water bottle from his belt, and Lance glared at it.

"That is not enough water for a four hour hike."

"I'll be fine." He tried to start the trail, but Lance blocked him.

"You won't be fine. You'll be dehydrated."

"Then I'll drink from the lake at the top. Let's just go."

"We're climbing the most advanced path. You need more water."

Keith was growing impatient, about ready to start a fight. If he wasn't scared that Allura would break his arm like she'd threatened to if he got so much as one more bruise before the fashion show, he would have. "Fine, then share yours with me."

"Then I won't have enough."

"Then try shutting up and climbing the hill." Keith shoved past him.

Lance huffed and jogged to catch up to him. "Fine, you can have some of my water. But you owe me." He sighed. "You need to be better prepared."

Keith rolled his eyes. "I'll do that, dad."

The trip up the hill was more difficult than Keith had realised it would be, and he was glad he was with someone who was physically fit enough to pull his own weight. Also that Lance had offered to let him have some water. He'd only been able to make his own last for two hours. Not that he would vocally admit that Lance was right, even though, yeah, okay, Lance was right about this one thing.

It took enough effort that, with the exception of the half hour they'd spent trying to find where the second half of the path was they were mostly silent.

When they got to the top, Keith looked at the span of forest below them. It seemed to go on forever.

"Don't you feel so small?" Lance took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "It's like none of your problems are important. You're free; just a single person in a world of billions."

Keith smiled. "People really fell all that philosophical garbage?"

"Well what do you feel?"

He looked to Lance. "Like I got up here myself, with my own power."

Lance hummed, looking up. "Yeah, I guess I do feel some of that, too." He pulled out his phone and took a couple pictures. "Come on, let's check out the lake."

It was water.

The way Lance acted, though, one would think it was the fountain of youth. He stripped down to his boxers and jumped in the water within fifteen seconds. Keith couldn't resist a joke about his bedroom performance.

Lance brushed his hair from his eyes. "Come on, the waters great."

Keith squatted down. "Are we even allowed to swim here?"

"Yeah. People do it all the time." He moved to Keith's feet. "Come on, let's swim around."

The idea wasn't very appealing to Keith. He wasn't a particularly strong swimmer, and he was tired on top of it. "Maybe next time."

Lance whined. Then he made his flirty face(TM) and pushed himself up so he was closer to Keith's face. "I'll give you a kiss if you do."

Keith's chest felt warm. He was forced to acknowledge at least once every few weeks that he was, in fact, attracted to Lance. This was one of those times. But Lance was also challenging him, so Keith put a hand on Lance's chest feeling his heart pound, and watching his eyes widen. "Promise?"

Lances hand slipped and he fell back into the water with a splash that got Keith wet and made him burst out in laughter that had him on his bum.

As soon as he calmed down, he stripped his over-clothes off and jumped in to join Lance.

It was fun, goofing around in the water with Lance. Aside from Lance grabbing Keith's ankle, which earned him a good kick to the face when Keith freaked out, neither of them tried anything dumb. They just swam around and had fun. it was a little weird, actually. Keith had spent about an hour floating on his back while Lance exhausted himself of the energy he obviously tole from a small child.

After getting out, they realised they'd failed to take putting their clothes back on into consideration. So they were stuck sitting around until their boxers dried.

And yes, Keith stared a little.

"Hey, Keith."

He jumped, his face red. But Lance was watching the water. "Yeah?"

"Do you think I'm too competitive?"

He stared at Lance, taken aback. "What?"

"Do you think I'm too competitive?" He sounded irritable for a moment, then it was gone. "I know I am."

"Maybe. I mean, it gets annoying after a while."

Lance curled into himself, leaning over the edge. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"But I don't mind."

He turned to Keith, who sat up, leaning back on his arms.

"I like competing with you; it's why I do it. And you're the only one who can sort of keep up with me."

Lance's eyes were red.

"Lance, you know we're friends, right? At least I think we are."

He hummed, looking back to the water.

Keith sat up so his arm was against Lance's. "Hey. We are friends, right?"

"I don't know." Lance pulled his knees to his chest. "You're always ragging on me."

"You rag on me back. I thought that was our thing."

Lance huffed, glaring. "Forget it."

"Lance-"

"Just drop it, Keith."

"Hey, no." Keith tugged on Lance's arm. "You promised yesterday that you wouldn't pull this shit again. Now tell me what this is about."

It took a couple minutes of Lance opening his mouth, closing it, and sighing for him to finally answer Keith. "It just doesn't feel like you like me that much."

"What? Lance, I like you. That's just my personality." He leaned forward. "I wouldn't hang out with you if I didn't like you."

Lance sighed again. "All right."

Keith leaned back on his arms. "Sorry I came off that way."

Lance shrugged. "It's cool." He turned back to face Keith. "I like you, too, you know."

Keith smiled at him. "Yeah, I know."

That earned him the first real smile from Lance since their stupid bet began.

It was nice to be getting back to normal.


End file.
